Fanlore:Hostile Editing Policy

This page describes how Fanlore Policy & Admin members will react to hostile editing. Hostile editing can include, but isn't limited to:

• Deleting large sections of existing pages
• Filling pages with garbage content
• Removing content that the editor personally disagrees with
• Adding too much personal information about someone else
• Edit wars, where two people or groups keep changing a page
• Re-categorizing pages to push an agenda

What hostile editing is not

Edits which may feel unhelpful, redundant, or focus exclusively on one particular topic are not necessarily hostile. Editors should take care not to accuse another editor, whether new or experienced, of being hostile before they use an article talk page or user page to discuss the edits.

Edits that are not automatically hostile include but are not limited to:

• Making several new articles that are stubs or that are lacking info - these can always be fleshed out later
• Creating new categories that are redundant or not needed
• Adding information about a controversy or discourse to an article
• Voicing disagreement on a talk page
• Adding personal comments into an article (editorializing)
• Creating an article about themself as a fan or articles about their own fanworks

If you come across any of the points above, you should approach the situation with empathy and the goal of helping the new or inexperienced editor rather than scolding them. You can flag your issues in a helpful manner by reaching out on the article's talk page or the user's talk page to suggest changes or request clarification on their edits.

The problem with hostile editing

Hostile editing violates the general editing policies, especially Fanlore’s deceptive practices policies or Fanlore’s plural point of view principle. In particular, the following policies are meant to prevent the removal of large chunks of informative content with a destructive intent, for example because the editor disagrees with opinions stated in the article, because they dislike the content, or to cause harm to another editor. A special case of this behavior is an edit war, in which multiple users engage in hostile editing on a specific page by removing and/or replacing content that was added by the other party. Other common forms of hostile editing which also fall under these policies are attacks, outing, vandalism and spam.

Fanlore reaction to hostile editing

Fanlore Policy & Admin and gardeners will immediately reverse all hostile edits upon notice. Further reaction by Fanlore Policy & Admin depends on the severity and type of hostile editing as well as the user’s previous editing record on Fanlore and includes the following:

• Warning. In mild cases, we will send a warning message to users who have engaged in hostile editing, informing them that further similar behavior will result in a temporary suspension.
• Temporary suspension. This is the usual response to hostile editing behavior. The usual suspension period is three days and may be increased depending on the incident. Note that a suspension can be issued without warning to avoid further damage to the wiki.
• Permanent ban. In case of severe or repeated offenses or if an account is solely used for hostile editing, we will permanently ban the hostile editor's account.
• Page protection. This measure is only engaged if multiple users engage in hostile editing on a specific page (usually in the form of an edit war). Protected pages can no longer be edited by regular users. Page protection is temporary, the standard duration is two weeks.

Alerting Fanlore Policy & Admin to hostile editing

If you encounter hostile editing, please contact the Fanlore committee and alert Fanlore gardeners by adding the AttentionGardeners template to the page! We will try to take care of it as quickly as possible.